For many Queenslanders, two words can bring feelings of state pride, forged on sacred sporting ground, rushing forward.
“The Gabba.”
One of Brisbane’s two great temples of sport, it was announced last week the Gabba would be completely redeveloped at a cost of $1 billion as the main stadium for Brisbane’s 2032 Summer Olympics, should the bid be successful.
“The Gabba.“
Two words bring big sporting moments to the forefront of mind. The sheer thrill of recently-retired Lions champion Jonathon Brown powerfully breaking clear, marking, quickly turning from the tangle of players and kicking calm and straight for goal.
Richmond winning a second consecutive AFL grand final last September, in the first-ever AFL grand final held outside Victoria. A match nobody would have ever expected to have been played in rugby league heartland.
The fluid power of West Indies great fast bowler Wes Hall at the Tied Test in 1960 matching the late, canny Richie Benaud as captain of the Australian X1.
The exhilaration as Peter Siddle took a hat-trick in First Ashes Test in November 2010 as part of a game-changing 6/54 on day one to set the Aussies up for a series win.
The brave, battered and bruised Indian team forcing Australia in January 2021 into their first-ever loss at the Gabba since 1988 to win the series 2:1.
In 2032, we could see the athletics and the opening and closing Olympic ceremonies at the Gabba, all underneath a lit cauldren.
The stuff of dreams.
Jamaica’s Usain Bolt celebrates as he wins the men’s 200-meter final with a world record during the athletics competitions in the National Stadium at the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2008. CREDIT:AP
The Queensland government had already promised a $200 million overhaul of the Gabba in 2018, but now the Gabba upgrade is linked to the 2032 Olympics, the Queensland can ask the federal government to help cover the cost.
The Gabba has been home to Queensland sport including cricket and AFL for 126 years. It has played host to both rugby codes and the Socceroos’ first ever home game, against New Zealand in 1923.
However what impact will it have on Woolloongabba, dissected by transport corridors and for so long the ugly duckling of inner-city Brisbane?
It has changed dramatically from the low swamplands where Aboriginal people lived and hunted kangaroo, wallaby, possum and koala.
The name comes from Aboriginal phrases “woolloon” and “capemm” or “woolloon” and “gabba” that means either “whirling waters” or “fight talk place”.
Queensland’s railways grew around the old South Brisbane depot between the 1880s and 1960s, while one of the city’s biggest tram depots was at nearby East Brisbane.
The suburb and its surrounds contain three hospitals — the Mater, Princess Alexandra and the Queensland Children’s Hospital — which are all big employers.
South Bank Parklands, a legacy of World Expo ’88, is a 10-minute walk away, while the underground station for the city’s new underground rail network, the Cross River Rail, is straight across Main Street from the Gabba.
Who lives in Woolloongabba?
- The suburb’s 5361 residents, according to the 2016 census, had a median age of 30, were less likely to be married (60.8 per cent never married) and more likely to be university-educated (43.9 per cent).
- Culturally it’s a mix. One of the local state schools has “We all smile in the same language” as its school motto.
- Just under 60 per cent of people speak English at home, 5.9 per cent speak Mandarin Chinese, 2.7 per cent Vietnamese, while 2.4 per cent speak Korean and Cantonese. Aboriginal people made up 1.2 per cent of residents.
- It’s a suburb of both professionals (33.2 per cent) and tradies (11 per cent), clerks and community workers (about 13 per cent each). About 10 per cent class themselves as manager.
Source: 2016 Australian Bureau of Statistics Census.
In the past decade, the suburb of timber and tin Queensland workers cottages changed fast as the population grew.
Shane Smith runs Vogue Construction with nine employees. They have been restoring old Queensland homes at the Gabba for about 20 years.
He predicts Woolloongabba will now race ahead.
“This area here is about to boom again with what is going on over there,” he said, gesturing towards the new Cross River Rail underground rail station.
“And now, with what was announced at the Gabba, it is really going to boom.
Builder Shane Smith has been renovating Queenslanders and workers cottages in Woolloongabba for 20 years. He predicts the suburb to boom as the 2032 Olympics approach.CREDIT:TONY MOORE
“I think it’s a really good thing for this area. I think it’s a good spot to have the opening of the Olympic Games. It was either that or Albion and I think this is more accessible for us all.”
Both the homes he is now working on were built in 1902. It’s expensive work. The cost of repairs in each home was “well north of $100,000”.
“These two were old workers’ cottages back in the day. So these were not rich people who lived here in these places,” he said.
Michael Harries is a director of Woolloongabba town planning firm Steffan Town Planning.
It obtains development approvals for projects ranging from home extensions to small to medium unit complexes.
“I think in the short-term there are all those new units that have gone up near the Gabba, so there will those impacts for those residents,” he said.
“So noise and jack-hammering would definitely be an impact for those residents in the short-term.”
In the longer term, the biggest impact will be down towards Kangaroo Point where planners have proposed a covered link down Main Street between the Gabba and Raymond Park, where, theoretically, athletes would warm up.
“If anything it is probably a positive thing,” he said.
“You will have residents who will be concerned and don’t want to deal with it and want to get out, but things like that walkway over Main Street (part of the Cross River Rail) is a massive improvement on what happens there currently when they have major events at the Gabba.
“They won’t have to get police out there closing down the road every night with the buses and police blocking the street so the buses can ferry people back into town.”
Woolloongabba is now a hybrid mix of original character homes and modern unit complexes.CREDIT:TONY MOORE
He describes Woolloongabba as a hybrid suburb, with high-density living and the traditional lower density housing, protected by Brisbane City Council’s character house zoning.
Mr Harries said it was too early to see any reaction to the 2032 Olympics, but people were already investing in the suburb.
However, he did not see widespread changes to Woolloongabba, because the council’s zoning protects character homes and prevents development in easily-flooded areas.
“There is limited opportunity for infill development,” he said.
“It’s a good mixture. You are not going to see too many three and four-unit developments coming through in this area.
“It is more going to be the larger developments because of the nature of the zoning.”
The area is represented at the local government level by Greens councillor Jonathon Sri, who opposes the Olympics bid.
“We have far higher priorities, but if the major parties do push ahead with this, I’ll be using it as an opportunity to secure some positive improvements for my electorate,” Cr Sri said.
Cr Sri’s main concern is keep tackling the suburb’s “gentrification”, which he believes removes affordable housing.
He said rent control and a housing strategy needed to be put in place.
Cross River Rail’s new underground station is being built at Woolloongabba as part of the city’s new underground rail projectCREDIT:CROSS RIVER RAIL/FACEBOOK
“My biggest concerns is that the absence of a housing strategy to mitigate the negative impacts of gentrification will lead to rampant property speculation, forcing out low-income renters as their homes are turned into short-term accommodation for international media and Olympics tourists,” Cr Sri said.
“We need a rent control system for the entire inner-city, more public housing built around Woolloongabba, and tighter rules against residential apartments being turned into hotel rooms.
“Otherwise half the homes in Woolloongabba and Kangaroo Point are going to end up on AirBNB, with no housing available for local workers.”
Cr Sri says the space beside the Gabba, on Main Street where the Cross River Rail underground rail station is to be built, must contain a large new park.
“We’ll need a large public park and sports field above the Gabba train station site, new sports fields created along the West End riverfront to replace the old factories, significantly more investment in Davies Park, and new pocket parks created around Kangaroo Point and Woolloongabba so that local residents aren’t deprived of green space when existing parks are taken over for the Games,” he said.
Gabba Ward councillor Jonathan Sri’s seven-point wishlist
- New north-south high-frequency CityGlider bus service (and dedicated bus lanes) connecting Fortitude Valley to Woolloongabba and Annerley via the Story Bridge, Main Street and Ipswich Road.
- New east-west high-frequency Cityglider bus service connecting suburbs such as Bulimba and Hawthorne to West End via Woolloongabba.
- Pedestrian priority crossings from the Gabba Cross River Rail site to the northern side of Vulture Street and the southern side of Stanley Street.
- North-south separated bike/scooter lanes running along Main Street and Ipswich Road to connect to the Kangaroo Point green bridge.
- Separated bike/scooter lanes along Vulture Street to connect Woolloongabba to high-density housing areas in South Brisbane and West End.
- Extend the Stanley Street separated bike lanes east past the Gabba towards East Brisbane.
- A footpath link alongside the M3 to connect Vulture Street and the Gabba precinct to Lower River Terrace and the Brisbane River.
Article Source: www.brisbanetimes.com.au
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